Descriptive Writing:
Up Close and Personal
Today's Snack: Put a handful of washed strawberries in a bowl. Pick
each one up and look at it closely. Be able to tell how each one is a little
different. Cut off the green tops if you wish, with adult supervision, and
slice if you wish. Sprinkle just a little powdered sugar on top. Now observe
how the strawberries taste. Yummmmm! Top them off with some strawberry-flavored
milk.
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Supplies:
Bring in as many of
the objects listed below as you can,
or anything else that
can serve as a focal point
for practicing
observational skills
Pencil and paper
Let's practice our observation skills. Observation -
to "observe" - means to notice, perceive, or pay attention to. You're not
always observing just what something looks and feels like. Often, you are
observing how that object RELATES and CONNECTS with other things - including
your memories, dreams and ideas.
Study
the object in front of you, or your assigned item if it is too big to bring in.
Now write as many details as you can in making observations about that object.
Don't
just describe it physically, though that's fine, and you can work on your
descriptive skills, such as not calling something "brown" but more creatively
calling it "the color of the dirt in a baseball field."
Besides
describing the actual object, include details of memories that it jogs in you,
hopes and dreams or fears and disappointments that it reminds you of, people it
makes you think about, music and sports and family activities that it brings to
mind, and so on.
Here's a list of possibilities:
1.
a waiting
room
2.
a
basketball, baseball glove, or tennis racket
3.
a cell
phone
4.
a treasured
belonging
5.
a laptop
computer
6.
a favorite
restaurant
7.
your dream
house
8.
your ideal
roommate
9.
a closet
10.
your memory
of a place that you visited as a child
11.
a locker
12.
an accident
scene
13.
a city bus
or subway train
14.
an unusual
room
15.
a child's
secret hiding place
16.
a bowl of
fruit
17.
an item
left too long in your refrigerator
18.
backstage
during a play or a concert
19.
a vase of
flowers
20.
a rest room
in a service station
21.
a street
that leads to your home or school
22.
your
favorite food
23.
the inside
of a spaceship
24.
the scene
at a concert or athletic event
25.
an art
exhibit
26.
an ideal
apartment
27.
your old
neighborhood
28.
a small
town cemetery
29.
a pizza
30.
a pet
31.
a
photograph
32.
a hospital
emergency room
33.
a
particular friend or family member
34.
a painting
35.
a
storefront window
36.
an
inspiring view
37.
a work
table
38.
a character
from a book, movie, or television program
39.
a
refrigerator or washing machine
40.
a Halloween
costume
